The document discusses the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) to clean the Ganga River in India. It provides background on why the Ganga became polluted, the objectives of the GAP which was launched in 1986, and the phases and measures taken under the plan. However, the GAP failed to achieve its goals due to poor administration and implementation. New efforts under the National Mission for Clean Ganga are ongoing but more work is still needed to fully clean the river. Individual heroes have also worked to raise awareness about cleaning the Ganga but government action is needed for large-scale results.

1. GANGA
ACTION
PLAN
ACT TO CLEAN THE GANGA…
-AADIVEER JAIN
10A

2. INDEX
• ABOUT GAP
• HISTORY OF GANGA’S POLLUTED PRESENT
• MEASURES TOOK BY GOVERNMENT
• MEASURES TOOK BY INDIVIDUALS
• MY OPINION
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & BIBLIOGRAPHY

3. GAP
• THE GANGA IS THE LARGEST RIVER IN INDIA. IT PROVIDES WATER TO 40% OF THE POPULATION OF INDIA IN 11 STATES.
• IN RECENT TIMES INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MODERNIZATION AND A BIT OF IRRESPONSIBLENESS HAS CAUSED THE GANGA TO BE
SEVERELY POLLUTED.
• DUE TO ALL OF THIS, THE GANGA ACTION PLAN (OR GAP) WAS LAUNCHED BY SHRI RAJEEV GANDHI, THE THEN PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA
ON 14 JAN. 1986 WITH THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF POLLUTION ABATEMENT, TO IMPROVE THE WATER QUALITY BY INTERCEPTION,
DIVERSION AND TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC SEWAGE AND PRESENT TOXIC AND INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL WASTES FROM IDENTIFIED
GROSSLY POLLUTING UNITS ENTERING IN TO THE RIVER. THE OTHER OBJECTIVES OF THE GANGA ACTION PLAN ARE AS UNDER.
 CONTROL OF NON-POINT POLLUTION FROM AGRICULTURAL RUN OFF, HUMAN DEFECATION, CATTLE WALLOWING AND THROWING OF UNBURNT AND HALF BURNT BODIES
INTO THE RIVER.
 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TO CONSERVE THE BIOTIC, DIVERSITY OF THE RIVER TO AUGMENT ITS PRODUCTIVITY.
 NEW TECHNOLOGY OF SEWAGE TREATMENT LIKE UP-FLOW ANAEROBIC SLUDGE BLANKET (UASB) AND SEWAGE TREATMENT THROUGH AFFORESTATION HAS BEEN
SUCCESSFULLY DEVELOPED.
 REHABILITATION OF SOFT-SHELLED TURTLES FOR POLLUTION ABATEMENT OF RIVER HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED AND FOUND USEFUL.
 RESOURCE RECOVERY OPTIONS LIKE PRODUCTION OF METHANE FOR ENERGY GENERATION AND USE OF AQUACULTURE FOR REVENUE GENERATION HAVE BEEN
DEMONSTRATED.
 TO ACT AS TREND SETTER FOR TAKING UP SIMILAR ACTION PLANS IN OTHER GROSSLY POLLUTED STRETCHES IN OTHER RIVERS.

4. HOW DID GANGA BECAME SO
DIRTY!?
• CAUSES FOR THE DEGRADATION OF GANGA ARE –
i. HUMAN WASTES
ii. HARIDWAR DAM
iii. MUNICIPAL WASTE
iv. INDUSTRIAL WASTE
v. DEAD BODIES OF HUMANS AND ANIMALS
vi. RELIGIOUS RITES
• USUALLY RIVERS HAVE MICROBES IN THEM THAT CLEAN AND REPLENISH NATURAL WATER
IN THE WATER BODIES. BUT AFTER A CERTAIN PERIOD OF EXPLOITING, THESE MICROBES
DIE. EVENTUALLY THAT HAPPENED WITH GANGA. AND THIS CAUSED PESTS LIKE
MOSQUITOES AND FLYS TO BORN AND CARRY INFECTIOUS DISEASES.
• THIS PROBLEM HAS CAUSED SERIOUS HYGIENIC CRISIS, PEOPLE NEAR THE GANGA, WHO
NOW RECEIVES CONTAMINATED, HARD GANGA WATER – THAT WAS ONCE CONSIDERED
AS ELIXIR HAVE GOT SOME SERIOUS DISEASES LIKE DYSENTERY, CHOLERA, TYPHOID, HEP
A, GALLBLADDER CANCER AND E.COLI.

5. PHASES OF GANGA ACTION PLAN
• THE GANGA ACTION PLAN WAS INITIATED IN 2 PHASES
AND OVER 900 CRORE RUPEES ($130 MILLION) WERE SPENT
ON IT.
• PHASE 1- LAUNCHED IN JUNE 1985
TO ACCOMPLISH THIS TASK A TOTAL OF 2061
PROJECT OF POLLUTION ABATEMENT COVERING 25 TOWNS
IN U.P., BIHAR AND WEST BENGAL WERE SANCTIONED AT A
COST OF RS.460 CRORES ($65 MILLION)
• PHASE 2- SINCE PHASE 1 DIDN’T COVER THE TARGET,
PHASE 2 WAS LAUNCHED FROM 1993. IT INCLUDED
PROJECTS ON THE TRIBUTARIES GOMTI. YAMUNA,
DAMODAR AND MAHANADI.

6. • THE PLAN WAS A FAILURE DUE TO POOR ADMINISTRATION, IGNORANT EXECUTIONS AND
IRRESPONSIBILITY WITH THE MONEY. WELL THE CONGRESS AND RAJIV GANDHI TRIED TILL
2013. THE GAP WAS HALTED.
• IN 2016 THESE WERE THE NEW HIGHLIGHTS
 SITUATION WORSE NOW THAN IN 2013, “IN SIX CITIES OF UTTAR PRADESH, BIHAR AND WEST BENGAL, DISSOLVED OXYGEN (DO)
DECLINED FROM 2012-13 LEVELS.”
 “TOTAL COLIFORM (A BACTERIA) LEVELS IN ALL THE CITIES OF UTTAR PRADESH, BIHAR AND WEST BENGAL WAS VERY HIGH;
RANGING BETWEEN SIX TO 334 TIMES HIGHER THAN THE PRESCRIBED LEVELS.”
 “SPECIFIC PARAMETERS FOR WATER QUALITY MONITORING OF THE RIVER GANGA HAVE NOT BEEN PRESCRIBED BY NATIONAL
MISSION FOR CLEAN GANGA.”
• IN 2014, THE BJP GOVERNMENT ALLOTTED 3000 CRORES ($460 MILLION) FOR GANGA
CLEANING PLAN BUT SINCE THEN THE SITUATION HASN’T BEEN TOO GOOD STILL. GANGA
STILL REMAINS DIRTY.
• INDUSTRIES STILL DUMP THEIR WASTE IN GANGA.
• RELIGIOUS RITES STILL TAKES PLACE
• MONEY HAS BEEN POOLED INTO IT, BUT THE GOVERNMENT POLICIES STILL REMAIN UNAFFECTED
• THIS THUS PROVES THAT CORPORATIONS DIDN’T TOOK THE MATTER SERIOUSLY. IT’S NOT LONG BEFORE ALL WATER BODIES ARE
SEVERELY POLLUTED. OUR CURRENT SITUATION ISN’T GREAT TO , WE IN MP GET OUR WATERS FROM NARMADA. BUT OUR WATER IS
CONTAMINATED TO – WE ALL KNOW WE GET HARD WATER TREATED WITH CHLORAMINE, A BLEACHING AGENT. THE GANGA IS 20X
TIMES WORSE THAN NARMADA. NOW JUST THINK WHAT IS THE SITUATION IN THOSE OTHER STATES WITH THOSE PEOPLE. THE

7. NDIVIDUAL HEROS OF WATER
• PEOPLE THAT HAVE DONE THE ACT OF CHARITY TO CLEAN
THE SEAS AND RIVERS
• INDIA4OCEANS, AN NGO GATHERED A TEAM OF 500
STUDENTS TO HELP CLEAN THE JUHU, SIMILARLY AFROZ
SHAH, UN ENVIRONMENT'S CHAMPION OF THE EARTH
STARTED THE LARGEST BEACH CLEANUP PROJECT AT JUHU
IN 2016.
• SIMILARLY IN 2021, MRBEAST OR JIMMY DONALDSON WITH
MARK ROBER STARTED TEAM SEAS, A CHARITABLE
ORGANIZATION TO CLEAN THE SEAS AROUND NORTH
AMERICA
SO PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD ARE
WORKING TO CLEAN OCEANS AND
WELL THINGS ARE GOING BETTER THAN

8. HEROS OF GANGA
• SWAMI GYAN SWAROOP SANAND, AN 86-YEAR-OLD ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST FROM INDIA, DIED ON 11 OCTOBER 2018, 111
DAYS INTO HIS FAST. HE WAS PROTESTING INACTION ON KEEPING THE GANGA (ALSO KNOWN AS GANGES) RIVER FREE FROM
POLLUTION.
• SWAMI SANAD, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS G.D. AGARWAL, DEMANDED THAT THE GOVERNMENT FULFILL ITS PROMISES, POLICIES
AND PROGRAMMES. HE CALLED FOR A FREE-FLOWING GANGA RIVER WITH NO ILLEGAL MINING AND DAMS, AS WELL AS A
GANGA PROTECTION MANAGEMENT ACT.
• SWAMI SANAD HAD BEEN ON A DIET OF WATER AND HONEY SINCE JUNE BUT GAVE IT UP TWO DAYS BEFORE HIS DEATH
STATING: “MY FAST WILL END WITH MY DEATH.” HE DIEDFROM A CARDIAC ARREST AT THE ALL INDIA INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL
SCIENCES IN RISHIKESH WHERE HE WAS ADMITTED, AGAINST HIS WILL, THE NIGHT BEFORE.
• ALTHOUGH HIS DEMANDS WEREN’T FULFILLED TILL NOW BUT HIS SPIRIT HAS RISEN NGOS FOR THE CAUSE
NAMAMI GANGE IS ONE SUCH
FOUNDATION WORKING FOR THE WELFARE
AND REJUVENATION OF GANGA.
WE HOPE THEY WILL SUCCEED IN THEIR
PROJECT SO DO THE OTHERS MENTIONED
BEFORE.

9. MY OPINION
• WELL I MUST SUGGEST THAT THE PROBLEMS LOOKS REALLY ON SPOT AND TO THE
POINTS. PEOPLE ARE MAKING GANGA DEGRADE THROUGH THEIR ACTIVITIES THAT
CAN BE AVOIDED. ALSO WE CAN SEE LOUSINESS OF THE GOVERNMENT, THE ONE
ORGANIZATION THAT HAS SO MUCH POWER AND ENOUGH BUDGET TO MAKE THIS
HAPPEN.
• THE PROBLEM OF WATER IS A REAL AND SERIOUS SITUATION AND WE MUST DEAL
WITH IT. AT AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL PEOPLE DO WORK, BUT THE WORK DOESN’T
EXACTLY SEEM TO GO ANYWHERE.
• WE LIVE IN A MODERN ERA AND I BELIEVE CLEANING A NATURAL BODY AT THIS TIME
SHOULDN’T BE THAT DIFFICULT.
• GETTING BETTER SEWAGE SYSTEM, CLOSING INDUSTRIAL WASTE CHAMBERS TO THE
RIVERS, HAVING BETTER GARBAGE DISPOSING SYSTEM, EDUCATING PEOPLE ABOUT
THE PROBLEM PLANNING THOROUGHLY AND EXECUTING RESPONSIBLY IS THE WAY
TO GO. I BELIEVE IF THE GOVERNMENT PUT ITS FOCUS AND HARDWORK IN THE

10. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• WWW.MPPCB.NIC.IN
• EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG
• WWW.SLIDESHARE.NET
• THELOGICALINDIAN.COM
• WWW.UNEP.ORG
• NMCG.NIC.IN
• TIMESOFINDIA.INDIATIMES.COM
• YOURSTORY.COM

11. THANK
YOU!